Changing the subject, a failed oilman talks about failed oil

[kurth]

Morning Report 2/1/06
Fill 'Er Up With Fear
Changing the subject, a failed oilman talks about failed oil

The Permian Basin POTUS, beating Punxsutawney Phil to the punch by a little more than 24 hours, stuck his head out in public last night, saw the threatening shadow of GOP defeat this fall, and proclaimed something that we already know: We're "addicted to oil." The dreaded "peak oil" theory, ignored by most of the GOP until now, finally rated a peek by the Pennsylvania Avenue groundhog. But this one's a bad movie: When we woke up this morning, George W. Bush was still president.

Talk about an endless loop: Bush, the failed "oilman" who is the son of a rich guy who himself dabbled in oil, wouldn't be the U.S. president if we weren't addicted to oil, and his family's pals in the oil bidness hadn't propped him up with their outrageous profits. And all he was doing in his State of the Union address was mouthing what one of his mentors, billionaire Richard Rainwater, has been saying recently.

Bush's handlers are just trying to distract us, but the doomsaying is real. First, though, here's the part of Bush's speech I really liked, his rap about how "America has become a more hopeful nation." What a laugh. It was a fearmongering speech, but with the subject changed from Iraq and terrorists to oil. With typical push and pull, Bush's handlers sought to soothe us and scare us. There's no shortage of snake oil: Abstinence, he claimed, has really helped us. Too bad his father didn't practice it. Anyway, here's what Bush the Younger said:

< snip >

Unfortunately, it was the Bush regime's addiction to oil that helped lead it to concoct the rationale to invade Iraq and enrich Dick Cheney's oilfield-services company, Halliburton. And it was Bush and the GOP who pushed for the SUV tax breaks. Who are the addicts?

http://villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/2006_02.php

[mrcheerful]

1. Not to leave out the fact that oil men made shrubs

energy policies behind closed doors with no dems present.

[goose4739]

2. When Yahoo posted the story...

that Monkey would say "America is addicted to oil," I laughed my ass off. Come on -- he's the pusher and he and his pals have made ka-jillions off us! My God, when are the Democrats going to wake up????